“
Young female athletes are three to six times more likely than boys to tear an A.C.L., and in a recent 15-year period, across a dozen sports in U.S. high schools, the rate of A.C.L. injuries among girls jumped
32 percent
, more than double the increase among boys.” 😳
I was one of those teen girls who tore her ACL. I was 14 when I had my first knee surgery. This was in 2001, and I remember going to see Zoolander in the movie theater on crutches, and crying at the scene where Derek losing Male Model of the Year to Hansel (I was on child Vicodin). In 9th grade, two other girls tore their ACL around the same time as me as well. I’ve been talking about how girls are more prone to this injury for years. I also have patella alta, so I was prone to dislocations. I had my second knee surgery after getting hit by a car at 37. They gave me a cadaver ligament and everything feels pretty good now. What it really all comes down to is how women’s bodies are still not being researched or treated in the way they should.
I can’t finish the article but I played high school soccer in the 90’s. We knew this was a problem then and that UNC-Chapel Hill (the premier women’s program at the time) had started using this protocol to protect their players. Our coach did some of these exercises and stretches - we had one ACL tear in four years.
I was playing football about 10years ago and every training session our coach got us to do knee strengthening exercises as he was aware of the issue and wanted to minimised it as much as he could. We had a player on the team who was ex-professional...due to an ACL injury as well. I still do knee strengthening exercises now.
Can't believe it's still this a big a problem when it's a known issue.
The one they're talking about in the article I believe is the FIFA 11+ warm up: https://newcastlesportsmedicine.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/3.-11-poster.pdf
I was talking with a friend who works in sports medicine today and it reminded me of this article. This problem reminds me of how handwashing only became a thing in hospitals in the 1840s—something that seems like such an easy fix but wasn’t implemented for years.
The doc who finally figured that out was laughed at and ostracized apparently. He realized it and then had immense guilt wondering if he was the reason his niece died in childbirth that he helped with. I’m pretty sure he died not realizing how many lives he saved in the long run. Sorry for the tangent this story just fascinates/saddens me so much every time I see it!
I’d guess worse, just because those girls played at higher competitive levels before college. D3= no athletic scholarships, while D1 athletes are nearly all recruited to play their sport.
Then again, it’s possible that D3 has more previously injured players because they’re the ones who would have missed a season to recover.
Interesting from the first word to the last, and infuriating really. Shocked the author didn't have their daughter do the prevention exercises after the first tear, I can almost understand how she was willing to risk physical/emotional anguish for her daughter and not risk "hounding her too much, she was sick of being hounded."
There's a significant amount of work ahead of us. There are differences between male and female bodies, and the number of tears we observe in women, coupled with the failure to address this issue despite having studies and methods that can reduce tears by 80%, is recklessly irresponsible.
I was also shocked. I understand the fatigue of a parent after a year of dealing with his daughter’s injury, letting some things slide to avoid the cognitive load makes sense. But, all of the hardship was for these moments for his daughter’s injury, which then preventive exercises are also meant for!
To use the article’s analogy, it’s like getting too tired to tell your kid to wear a seatbelt. Some stuff you just can’t let slide. I don’t mean to shame the author, their honesty about it is a powerful reminder.
As a parent of an athletic kid who needs regular PT to keep pain at bay/prevent injury when she plays, at a certain point there’s only so much reminding/nagging/encouraging you can do. You can’t physically force them. You won’t tell them they can’t play anymore.
There was a shift in this last season where it seemed to click for my daughter that the exercises are worth if it she wants to keep playing. But she had to get there on her own.
My husband is a physiotherapist who works with young athletes and says basically this too. The kids who make it pro eventually are the ones who are disciplined with doing their exercises, prehab, and rehab. Some kids just won’t even though they know it will help them.
It's sickening to think that countless girls have to deal with at least a year of brutal recovery, and potentially a lifetime of complications and the death of their dreams, because there are coaches who know about these ACL protection warm up routines but can't be bothered to implement them.
I powerlift, and often when I tell people that they respond by saying they're scared of lifting weights because they don't want to get injured. Power lifting and any form of strength training does of course have risks, but I do what I can do mitigate them. I don't think people have the same reaction to most other sports (I didn't get it when I did fencing), but as this article shows there clearly are massive injury risks with sports like soccer/football that many people just don't consider. And the irony is lifting weights is a very effective way of reducing injury risk, both for sports (as the article says) and once you're elderly.
I ran track and field with a local club as a preteen. They had us run on grass for months before getting on the track. Also very long warm ups. We had basically zero injuries. When I got to high school track people got injured all the time.
I’ve read this! SO good. I’m into hockey so I’d already been following the USAToday investigation into Black Bear and Texas Hockey under the Dallas Stars. Wack how easily a whole sport ecosystem can be controlled.
I just finished a book called, Better, Faster, Farther by Maggie Mertens. This book is about the history of women’s running, with a side of sports research on women, women’s role in society, trans panic in women’s sport and more. It is a great book. If you want to dive a little deeper.
One section talks about this as well as the “triad” for female athletes: under fueling, low bone density, and menstrual dysfunction. Because women are encouraged to stay slim and keep their appetites (and appearance in check) despite a heavy training load. And don’t forget about looking femme.
Hormonal fluctuations influence these ACL injuries, and it is a shame we know about this problem and skip common sense prevention.
Recently I was diagnosed with a bone spur in my knee. It was inflamed and it sucked. At the peak it was really painful and I couldn’t even bend down properly to squat or reach the bottom shelf. Or walk more than 10 minutes with pain. Or even meal prep for more than 15 minutes. Luckily now I am 90%. While the doctors didn’t do a lot, PT and changing my workout strategy has helped. I do more warmups. I am strengthening my hips and prioritizing mobility. I am doing one-sided exercises and lateral movement. Sometimes it feels a little funny for a bit, but I have my mobility back. I am 48. This is age related. I can’t imagine barely leaving puberty with these kinds of issues for life.
Frankly, youth travel sports are evil and seeing how big they've gotten in the US makes me envy the CCP's ability to simply destroy sectors of the economy that they dislike or find immoral.
“A prerequisite for using the 11+ is being aware that it exists.” Then there are the coaches who express skepticism. “People are like, ‘Where’s the research?’” Silvers-Granelli told me. “And I’m like, Oh, my God!”
Couldn’t access the NYT, but does this touch on shoes at all? I’ve seen articles talking about how until very recently, shoe companies weren’t accounting for differences in biomechanics between male and female athletes, which might contribute to more ACL tears in women/girls.
>Gender contributes in less obvious ways, too. Despite skyrocketing participation in girls’ sports, girls’ cleats are often just boys’ shoes with different stylings. (“Shrink it and pink it,” in the argot of the apparel world.) But the female foot tends to be shaped differently than its male counterpart, and it absorbs forces differently. Female knees are also more likely to turn inward during quick movements, while ankles roll outward. This can put strain on the shin and therefore the A.C.L. Appropriate shoes may help mitigate these risks; an improper fit can exacerbate them
My mother tore her ACL in gym class failing to stick the landing on some gymnastics maneuver back in the 80s. To this day, she wears capris in the summer because she can’t bear for anyone to see the scar on her knee.
Having studied this recently after a BJJ injury and chose a non-surgical route:
Excess Body mass (kids are fatter than ever)
Lacking of physical fitness to meet the demands of their sport
Lack of diversity in movement (i.e hyper specialization of children in youth sports for months on end)
Poor AF Physical Therapy practice as it is known that most rehabilitation does not successfully allow a player to Return to Practice, Play and Competition are all different end points of a full rehab.
Parents not making their sure their kids are doing the work, you can't just rely on the school teacher to ensure reading.
Children are not soccer players, they are kids playing sports, D1-D3 athletes specialize. Kids should not be doing soccer year round because that is lacking physical diversity.
You’re missing the sexism that author of this article is trying to address that is the undercurrent of why teenage girls are tearing their ACLs more than boys. Even the fit of the cleats on girls has been shown not be as supportive as our feet take certain impacts and movement differently.
It’s not clickbait simply because you never heard of this phenomenon before. I’ve known this for decades because I was one of those teen girls who tore her ACL at 14.
You misunderstand me. Of course girls are tearing their ACLs. This is no surprise. The clickbait part is that the headline posits it’s some sort of mystery.
The mystery is why haven’t club and high school and colleges adapted a low cost PROVEN remedy for an injury that is frighteningly common despite it being around for decades?
Because injuries in sports are unavoidable to some degree. If they were entirely preventable we wouldn’t see professional athletes who make $50m per year tear their ACLs
Ok but is this your take you shouldn't let your daughters leave the house like ever to do anything! Like there's inherent risk in basically anything you do, and while there are certainly risks with playing sports, playing sports can be beneficial in multiple ways!
Super short-sighted outlook. As mentioned in the article, relatively simple exercises and precautionary measures can greatly reduce the risk of an ACL tear. And it's not like boys are immune to injury! Joining a sport is a fantastic way to meet people & to build strength and self-confidence during adolescence. Don't deprive your daughters of those experiences because of a few possible risks. Literally everything has possible risks associated with it.
Sports are good for girls. At any skill level. Builds a good foundation for life, not just physically, but mentally and interpersonal skills. Especially team sports.
The risks of heart disease, diabetes, osteoporosis and many others are multitudes greater then tearing your ACL, which this whole article is showing is preventable. Just admit it, you don't want them to play sports. (I hope they do their whole adult lives!)
tjdogger | 14 hours ago
“ Young female athletes are three to six times more likely than boys to tear an A.C.L., and in a recent 15-year period, across a dozen sports in U.S. high schools, the rate of A.C.L. injuries among girls jumped 32 percent , more than double the increase among boys.” 😳
FutureRealHousewife | 13 hours ago
I was one of those teen girls who tore her ACL. I was 14 when I had my first knee surgery. This was in 2001, and I remember going to see Zoolander in the movie theater on crutches, and crying at the scene where Derek losing Male Model of the Year to Hansel (I was on child Vicodin). In 9th grade, two other girls tore their ACL around the same time as me as well. I’ve been talking about how girls are more prone to this injury for years. I also have patella alta, so I was prone to dislocations. I had my second knee surgery after getting hit by a car at 37. They gave me a cadaver ligament and everything feels pretty good now. What it really all comes down to is how women’s bodies are still not being researched or treated in the way they should.
EatMorePieDrinkMore | 14 hours ago
I can’t finish the article but I played high school soccer in the 90’s. We knew this was a problem then and that UNC-Chapel Hill (the premier women’s program at the time) had started using this protocol to protect their players. Our coach did some of these exercises and stretches - we had one ACL tear in four years.
It’s appalling this is still an issue.
skatemoose | 12 hours ago
I was playing football about 10years ago and every training session our coach got us to do knee strengthening exercises as he was aware of the issue and wanted to minimised it as much as he could. We had a player on the team who was ex-professional...due to an ACL injury as well. I still do knee strengthening exercises now. Can't believe it's still this a big a problem when it's a known issue.
EatMorePieDrinkMore | 12 hours ago
And the solution is fairly easy to implement.
miaou975 | 9 hours ago
Any links to guides to these exercises? 🙏
foreignfishes | 8 hours ago
The one they're talking about in the article I believe is the FIFA 11+ warm up: https://newcastlesportsmedicine.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/3.-11-poster.pdf
EatMorePieDrinkMore | 9 hours ago
Sorry! Haven’t done them in over 35 years!
[OP] galassea | 14 hours ago
I was talking with a friend who works in sports medicine today and it reminded me of this article. This problem reminds me of how handwashing only became a thing in hospitals in the 1840s—something that seems like such an easy fix but wasn’t implemented for years.
wavvesofmutilation | 13 hours ago
The doc who finally figured that out was laughed at and ostracized apparently. He realized it and then had immense guilt wondering if he was the reason his niece died in childbirth that he helped with. I’m pretty sure he died not realizing how many lives he saved in the long run. Sorry for the tangent this story just fascinates/saddens me so much every time I see it!
[OP] galassea | 12 hours ago
Yes! So interesting and tragic. I think he actually ended up dying in an asylum after a nervous breakdown caused by everyone not believing him.
MilkChocolate21 | 12 hours ago
Of sepsis no less!
ValosAtredum | 11 hours ago
Ignaz Semmelweis!
Pleasant_Fennel_5573 | 13 hours ago
In 2002, my D3 college soccer team had a 50/50 split between girls who had an ACL surgery and girls who hadn’t.
coriolisFX | 10 hours ago
Wow, awful. Is D1 better or worse?
Pleasant_Fennel_5573 | 10 hours ago
I’d guess worse, just because those girls played at higher competitive levels before college. D3= no athletic scholarships, while D1 athletes are nearly all recruited to play their sport.
Then again, it’s possible that D3 has more previously injured players because they’re the ones who would have missed a season to recover.
princesspool | 13 hours ago
Interesting from the first word to the last, and infuriating really. Shocked the author didn't have their daughter do the prevention exercises after the first tear, I can almost understand how she was willing to risk physical/emotional anguish for her daughter and not risk "hounding her too much, she was sick of being hounded."
There's a significant amount of work ahead of us. There are differences between male and female bodies, and the number of tears we observe in women, coupled with the failure to address this issue despite having studies and methods that can reduce tears by 80%, is recklessly irresponsible.
Von_Lincoln | 12 hours ago
I was also shocked. I understand the fatigue of a parent after a year of dealing with his daughter’s injury, letting some things slide to avoid the cognitive load makes sense. But, all of the hardship was for these moments for his daughter’s injury, which then preventive exercises are also meant for!
To use the article’s analogy, it’s like getting too tired to tell your kid to wear a seatbelt. Some stuff you just can’t let slide. I don’t mean to shame the author, their honesty about it is a powerful reminder.
LowStrike5558 | 9 hours ago
As a parent of an athletic kid who needs regular PT to keep pain at bay/prevent injury when she plays, at a certain point there’s only so much reminding/nagging/encouraging you can do. You can’t physically force them. You won’t tell them they can’t play anymore.
There was a shift in this last season where it seemed to click for my daughter that the exercises are worth if it she wants to keep playing. But she had to get there on her own.
getgetgetgetgetovrit | 6 hours ago
My husband is a physiotherapist who works with young athletes and says basically this too. The kids who make it pro eventually are the ones who are disciplined with doing their exercises, prehab, and rehab. Some kids just won’t even though they know it will help them.
_antique_cakery_ | 13 hours ago
It's sickening to think that countless girls have to deal with at least a year of brutal recovery, and potentially a lifetime of complications and the death of their dreams, because there are coaches who know about these ACL protection warm up routines but can't be bothered to implement them.
I powerlift, and often when I tell people that they respond by saying they're scared of lifting weights because they don't want to get injured. Power lifting and any form of strength training does of course have risks, but I do what I can do mitigate them. I don't think people have the same reaction to most other sports (I didn't get it when I did fencing), but as this article shows there clearly are massive injury risks with sports like soccer/football that many people just don't consider. And the irony is lifting weights is a very effective way of reducing injury risk, both for sports (as the article says) and once you're elderly.
Lysmerry | 14 hours ago
I ran track and field with a local club as a preteen. They had us run on grass for months before getting on the track. Also very long warm ups. We had basically zero injuries. When I got to high school track people got injured all the time.
microwavemugbrownie | 12 hours ago
Related, this is a really interesting longread about private-equity backed youth sports leagues. The hyper-competitive nature and punishing schedules of these teams lead to injuries like ACL tears: https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/youth-sports-private-equity-travel-leagues.html
[OP] galassea | 12 hours ago
I’ve read this! SO good. I’m into hockey so I’d already been following the USAToday investigation into Black Bear and Texas Hockey under the Dallas Stars. Wack how easily a whole sport ecosystem can be controlled.
PlantedinCA | 12 hours ago
I just finished a book called, Better, Faster, Farther by Maggie Mertens. This book is about the history of women’s running, with a side of sports research on women, women’s role in society, trans panic in women’s sport and more. It is a great book. If you want to dive a little deeper.
One section talks about this as well as the “triad” for female athletes: under fueling, low bone density, and menstrual dysfunction. Because women are encouraged to stay slim and keep their appetites (and appearance in check) despite a heavy training load. And don’t forget about looking femme.
Hormonal fluctuations influence these ACL injuries, and it is a shame we know about this problem and skip common sense prevention.
Recently I was diagnosed with a bone spur in my knee. It was inflamed and it sucked. At the peak it was really painful and I couldn’t even bend down properly to squat or reach the bottom shelf. Or walk more than 10 minutes with pain. Or even meal prep for more than 15 minutes. Luckily now I am 90%. While the doctors didn’t do a lot, PT and changing my workout strategy has helped. I do more warmups. I am strengthening my hips and prioritizing mobility. I am doing one-sided exercises and lateral movement. Sometimes it feels a little funny for a bit, but I have my mobility back. I am 48. This is age related. I can’t imagine barely leaving puberty with these kinds of issues for life.
catalyticfizz | 7 hours ago
Thank you, I’m adding that book to my TBR list right now!
[OP] galassea | 15 hours ago
https://archive.ph/Qsy6T
whynovirus | 8 hours ago
Thank you!
Legate_Invictus | 12 hours ago
Frankly, youth travel sports are evil and seeing how big they've gotten in the US makes me envy the CCP's ability to simply destroy sectors of the economy that they dislike or find immoral.
ranger398 | 14 hours ago
Oh really interesting! Thanks for posting!
thatturtletouch | 13 hours ago
The massive entry of private equity into youth sports is not going to help this one bit.
tinyforrest | 12 hours ago
“A prerequisite for using the 11+ is being aware that it exists.” Then there are the coaches who express skepticism. “People are like, ‘Where’s the research?’” Silvers-Granelli told me. “And I’m like, Oh, my God!”
😭😭😂
best_american_girl | 9 hours ago
Couldn’t access the NYT, but does this touch on shoes at all? I’ve seen articles talking about how until very recently, shoe companies weren’t accounting for differences in biomechanics between male and female athletes, which might contribute to more ACL tears in women/girls.
foreignfishes | 8 hours ago
It does, it says
>Gender contributes in less obvious ways, too. Despite skyrocketing participation in girls’ sports, girls’ cleats are often just boys’ shoes with different stylings. (“Shrink it and pink it,” in the argot of the apparel world.) But the female foot tends to be shaped differently than its male counterpart, and it absorbs forces differently. Female knees are also more likely to turn inward during quick movements, while ankles roll outward. This can put strain on the shin and therefore the A.C.L. Appropriate shoes may help mitigate these risks; an improper fit can exacerbate them
misspcv1996 | 3 hours ago
My mother tore her ACL in gym class failing to stick the landing on some gymnastics maneuver back in the 80s. To this day, she wears capris in the summer because she can’t bear for anyone to see the scar on her knee.
bannana | 3 hours ago
anyone have a link w/o paywall?
DTFH_ | 12 hours ago
Having studied this recently after a BJJ injury and chose a non-surgical route:
tinyforrest | 12 hours ago
You’re missing the sexism that author of this article is trying to address that is the undercurrent of why teenage girls are tearing their ACLs more than boys. Even the fit of the cleats on girls has been shown not be as supportive as our feet take certain impacts and movement differently.
tydye29 | 14 hours ago
I will read and edit in a little bit...but the "still" part of the headline is perplexing to me..
UpbeatFix7299 | 14 hours ago
Women are far more likely to tear their acls than men playing the same sport. It has been known for decades and is still happening.
orange_fudge | 14 hours ago
Girls and women in sport are much more likely to tear their ACL specifically.
We have known this for decades and protective ‘pre-jab’ warmup routines exist. Teams and coaches either don’t know or don’t care to implement them.
Awkward_Tick0 | 14 hours ago
Yeah I mean are supposed to have solved sports injuries by now?
celtic_quake | 14 hours ago
The perplexing mystery of "a headline" can often be unravelled through a practice called "reading the article"
Awkward_Tick0 | 14 hours ago
oh come on. we're pointing out the clickbait headline.
FutureRealHousewife | 13 hours ago
It’s not clickbait simply because you never heard of this phenomenon before. I’ve known this for decades because I was one of those teen girls who tore her ACL at 14.
Awkward_Tick0 | 13 hours ago
You misunderstand me. Of course girls are tearing their ACLs. This is no surprise. The clickbait part is that the headline posits it’s some sort of mystery.
EatMorePieDrinkMore | 13 hours ago
The mystery is why haven’t club and high school and colleges adapted a low cost PROVEN remedy for an injury that is frighteningly common despite it being around for decades?
Awkward_Tick0 | 6 hours ago
Because injuries in sports are unavoidable to some degree. If they were entirely preventable we wouldn’t see professional athletes who make $50m per year tear their ACLs
EatMorePieDrinkMore | 6 hours ago
These exercises lower the incidence of the injury, they don’t eliminate it.
FutureRealHousewife | 13 hours ago
The fact that you’re taking umbrage with a headline that is actually still a valid question in 2026 and not positing a mystery is pretty odd.
storemans | 14 hours ago
one of many reasons I won't let my daughters play sports
BallMeBlazer22 | 14 hours ago
Ok but is this your take you shouldn't let your daughters leave the house like ever to do anything! Like there's inherent risk in basically anything you do, and while there are certainly risks with playing sports, playing sports can be beneficial in multiple ways!
mllegisele | 13 hours ago
Super short-sighted outlook. As mentioned in the article, relatively simple exercises and precautionary measures can greatly reduce the risk of an ACL tear. And it's not like boys are immune to injury! Joining a sport is a fantastic way to meet people & to build strength and self-confidence during adolescence. Don't deprive your daughters of those experiences because of a few possible risks. Literally everything has possible risks associated with it.
PlantedinCA | 11 hours ago
Sports are good for girls. At any skill level. Builds a good foundation for life, not just physically, but mentally and interpersonal skills. Especially team sports.
pennypenny22 | 13 hours ago
The risks of heart disease, diabetes, osteoporosis and many others are multitudes greater then tearing your ACL, which this whole article is showing is preventable. Just admit it, you don't want them to play sports. (I hope they do their whole adult lives!)